With the changing of the leaves brings on big fall swings in the height of the Ohio river, 20 ft swings are not out of the norm. Fall can be my most productive time to fish the Ohio River and its tributaries, some people avoid the falling River who doesn’t like fishing a river on the rise but their are a lot opportunities on falling water.

Do you avoid fishing falling water especially when it’s dropping a 10 ft in a day? I did for years, I had to force myself to fish on falling water filled with debris. With the short days the fish know winter is coming and are focused on feeding, it’s all about the bait fish. Those creek mouths and main river points that were so productive just a few days before on the rise have become a no man’s land, the fish are just not where they used to be.

With falling water points and flats start having more and more current, conditions changing so fast that baitfish have a hard time dealing with all those changing conditions. Its fall time and almost everything in the river is putting the feed bags on now, find the bait and you find the predators. Look for places that offer the baitfish protection from predators.

Look for deep cuts or smaller feeder creeks just inside the mouth of a tributary that are protected from the falling waters current. With a deep pool or back eddy water that has structure around it, a example would be a small run off up in a tributary that has eroded a small protected area that is forming a back eady that is deep, throw in some down trees or giant root balls and you have a perfect example. When you find the right set of conditions the bait fish will be held in tight balls or in the root balls even if you don’t see any other game fish on your fishfinder hang out where the bait is they will come back.

Sometimes when you can fish it’s not the most ideal conditions and falling water is one of them finding the bait can lead to some high number days with mixed bags of spots, smallies, white bass, hybrids and some nearby saugs. We can not control what mother nature does but if we follow her patterns long enough we can see how to use all the different weather patterns to help find fish. Happy fall fishing.

Late spring and early summer has been bringing most of us heavy rains and in Southwest Ohio we have had two major rain events that caused major flooding. What does all this mean to us, chocolate milk colored water not the best for fishing. Not only are these storms bring muddy water but the debris being brought out of all the tributaries everything from full trees to pop bottles and other garbage. It’s easy to get discourage with conditions like these but if you take a minute and look what the fish are doing you can put yourself on good fish in bad conditions.

With heavy rain bringing in muddy water from creeks and other run off into the lakes and reservoirs positioning the bass on cover or clean water if they can find it. Bass tend to find clearer water and when that’s gone they will glue themselves to structure the bigger bass like having deep water close by. Using their lateral line in muddy water to find a safe place to hide out until hunger overtakes them and forcing them to eat. Grass tends to hold cleaner water and if you can find structure with deep water close by this gives the bigger fish more confidence, the bigger bass take the best spots. Never be afraid of taking you time working the best spots, work all the structure thoroughly, let it soak. Finding the biggest and nasty wood or big rock and picking it apart, starting with cranks to pick of the most active ones and transitioning to soft plastics to get in close and find the ones that won’t budge off the structure.

Skip a worm under the rose bushes.

The fish have to eat whether the conditions are good or not, slow days fish are still biting but it may be so soft and quick, it will feel like bumping a branch or rock. Hook sets are cheap use them often (great advice from Barry). My personal biggest LMB on public water was one of the softest bites I have ever set the hook on, I actually assumed it was some grass that the lure was getting caught in. Look for cuts that have three good reasons a bass wants to be there (grass, clearer water, structure, deep water close by). Always start with your hard baits and working the points of cuts and changing over to soft plastics to pick off the fish that are slow biters and don’t be afraid to set the hook even if you don’t think its a bass you may be surprised. I like to pitch at.

22.25 inch LMB from public waters she was holding close to structure. Throw at least three times all the way to the back of a cut. Colors to use really are up to use I normally keep it pretty natural looking but I will throw the black and blue creature baits or worms.

So the next time its blown out and you have time try fishing in tight to structure and hopefully you find a slob of a bass waiting for you. If you liked or found this helpful please like and share.

As I write this down I’m not even sure if I will post it. Sitting here in my comfortable chair looking back and trying to put all this in words and frankly I am at a lost to find the right ones. The last 12 months I have been geeking out on how to read and set up my fish finder to really get the maximum use out of it and it paid off.

Day 1 The Ohio River is on a slight rise and running at the perfect water level in my opinion, not to high and not to low. 50 yards from where I dunked my yak I begin to see the returns on my fish finder that really perking my interest. It’s not just about arches or footballs but how these arches and footballs relate to structure and each other. After just a few casts I knew my fish finder had not lied. Some schooling hybrids were finding my lipless crankbait and crushing it on a February day. Life just could not get much better. The interesting piece was that the fish were only biting if the bait was brought back against the current. Water temps 42 degrees with a slight wind from the south.

Day 2 Back to the spot from the day before and the fish finder looks even better. The fish are beginning to school by size, awful early for this type of behavior. I cast and I cast I manage to pick off a couple 17 inch white bass. Such amazing fish I really just love big White bass. I start to try different baits different retrieves and nothing. I decide to do a long slow troll over top of the three schools. Running a small swim bait on a long line. As I approach the three schools smash and a giant head shaking run. My lightbulb moment on the Ohio River.

As the fish finder revealed the fish were schooling by size and I could clearly see the bigger fish schooled up together. Once the Hybrids revealed that the long line troll with a tiny swim bait, against the current was what they wanted I knew what I was going to do the rest of the day. My day began to go completely insane. Targeting just the big slobs, they just could not help themselves and were crushing the bait. Some of the most violent hits I have ever personally felt, these fish are just plain amazing. Some of you wouldn’t believe the numbers and sizes. Others would think I am just being a fisherman and exaggerating. This was one of the most amazing fishing days I have ever had. We are truly lucky to have such

good fishing right here at home.

4 days before or recent warm front. Water temp still only 43 to 44 degrees but when you can unlock the code and find the fish some truly amazing things will happen. It took me 20 lure changes and more than a few times had me guessing what I thought I was seeing on my fishfinder was right. Finding the right lure with the right color and action, fished at the right depth and speed can be daunting but the payout can just be huge. I hope you found something useful for your own fishing in this Ohio River report if you liked it please subscribe.

There’s one simple truth about winter fishing, it’s tough and not for everyone. With the need of special safety gear, the cold weather and the need to fish slow and ultra small this all adds to the tough conditions. Grinding it out for weeks in these conditions is not what I would call easy. Don’t get me wrong the quality has been there, big fish have been caught but it’s one here one there and spread out. The people I meet on the river are few and far between this time of year but we all have a kindred spirits with shared hypothermia.

As the slow fishing grinds you down you know that it will change and the bite will be back. Finally the Ohio river and its tributaries are starting to give up the stripes in numbers I made it to the other side of the grind. White bass are beginning to stage into large tributaries, relating to ledges and bait. Water and air temps are still cruel in how cold it is but the the bigger white bass and hybrids and starting to bite along with a bunch of other species that relate to the ledges. You just never know what you’re going to find this time of year in the water.

I have a particular setup I like to use starting with the terminal tackle. ¼ oz jig head thin wire I know most people are scratching their heads on this. My reason for the thinner wire is the bite is soft and not committed, having a thinner wire you have a better chance of the fish hooking itself, not to mention you don’t need a massive hookset to set it. Make sure your drag is not set too tight or you might have a fish straighten the hooks out. The line is crucial I have three different weights I like using but mostly I end up using 8lb line. Yes I said 8lb line for big hybrids the fish are just looking for a reason not to bite 8lb line is as subtle as it gets. Just a nice sensitive rod 7ft ish medium with a fast tip. Buy something decent I burned up a Pflueger Trion rod and reel last season only had about 4 or 5 months on it.

The lures need to be small not just smallish but miniature nothing bigger than 2.5 inches and even that can be too big at times depending on the fish’s mood. I personally prefer small swim baits in a pearl or white color. Fish them slow on the bottom or just off the bottom along ledges the fish are right on the bottom mostly right now. Be prepared to catch drum, carp, hybrids, whites, sauger and catfish you just never know this time of year. My secret is using scent, scent will make all the difference. I noticed that you get more variety of fish using scent in the winter adding to the fun of winter fishing. If you do find fish schooling and they are trash fish always fish the edges of the group seems like you can always pick a good hybrid out of the group. Fishin the top and bottom of the school the hybrids seem to relate to these schools but on the edges.

Water temps are from 35 to 45 degrees so fish it “slow and low” I like to let my bait lay on the bottom sometimes for a few seconds during pauses. Good luck out there and be safe cold water is nothing to play around in. Please subscribe to my blog for more good fishing.

Sometimes just finding that one piece of winter gear you need to round out everything else you own is tricky especially if you’re talking about a PFD, most are designed to keep you cool and not warm and warmth is what’s needed. There are so many PFD’s out there to pick from and with temps dropping into the 20s and going lower you really shouldn’t wear a inflatable PFD which is my go to pfd. In cold weather they don’t inflate as much not giving you the floatation you may need.

4.5 inches thick old PFD front and back together

The biggest gripe I always have is how bulky a traditional PFD is and once you layer up for cold conditions they make it even worst not to mention you really almost need a separate winter PFD just to have one to fit on over all your layers. I hate it when your trying as hard as you can to target a small group of fish and your rod butt hits you PFD when working the bait or worst yet when you’re setting the hook a slob of a fish and the rod butt catches on your PFD only to feel the fish come off.

Only 2inches thick the front and back together

I went to Bass Pro to pick up a cheap vest for the winter the cheap ones were bulky in the front and back, but the price was right $49.98, I’m only using it at most 3 months of the year . They were having BPS Santaland being it’s right before the holidays which was where all the PFDs were. When I found where they had put them all the PFDs were smashed on top of each other, which was magic, just one of the XPS Deluxe Fishing vests were mixed in and when I saw it, I just had to check it out.

Fleece collar help keeps you warm

XPS Deluxe Fishing vest is different then most PFDs, most PFDs have all the foam floatation located in the front and back where on the XPS Deluxe Fishing vest its distributed all the way around the vest adding a layer of warmth and greatly reducing the bulk on the front and back. Not only is it less bulky and warmer this vest comes in sizes up to 4xl. With fleece lined pockets to warm your hands up when they get cold from fishing and it doesn’t stop there it has a fleece collar as well. Is this thing made for me or what.

My one disappointment with this vest there’s no place to put my knife, I always like to have one handy, you never know when that catfishing line is going to cause problems.

The XPS deluxe fishing vest make a great winter kayak fishing vest its slim, warm and the fleece lined pockets really dial this vest into keeping you warm. Coming in at only $69.98 what a great value on a piece of critical importance in the winter.